Perry surprises staff, stays in race

Surprising some members of his own staff, Rick Perry announced via Twitter on Wednesday morning that he will stay in the GOP presidential race despite a disappointing finish in Iowa.

“And the next leg of the marathon is the Palmetto State … Here we come South Carolina!!!” Perry tweeted just after 11 a.m. EST from his personal account, linking to a picture of him in Texas A&M jogging shorts giving a thumbs-up.

“Staying,” Allbaugh wrote in an email when asked whether Perry is remaining in the race.

A source close to Perry said the Texas governor decided to make a stand in South Carolina because “he is not a quitter and really is the only true conservative in the race.”

“Records matter; start comparing,” the source said.

Perry spokesman Mark Miner said Perry would stay in Texas until Friday, at which point he’ll head to New Hampshire and participate in the two debates there this weekend. The candidate will then go to South Carolina.

Perry’s decision to campaign in South Carolina is a major blow to Rick Santorum’s hopes of consolidating conservatives behind his candidacy. If Perry and Newt Gingrich are still in the GOP race when it heads south on Jan. 21, the base will likely be divided among conservatives.

Perry’s decision to stay in initially caught some of his own staff off-guard. His long-serving press secretary, Mark Miner, said he didn’t know what the plan was and said only that he was “checking on it” when asked about Perry’s tweet. Miner confirmed that Perry handles his own Twitter account.

In a subsequent conversation, Miner declined to say when the governor decided to go forward or when he notified staff.

“He had some conversations and made the decision,” said Miner, noting that Perry only said he was going to reasses and “never left the race.”

The Dallas Morning News quoted Perry’s son, Griffin, as saying that his father had made up his mind during a morning jog.

“Dad had a run today and cleared his head. He and mom talked, and we’re in and onto South Carolina,” Griffin Perry told the newspaper.

“I was out on the trail when it kind of came to me,” Perry told the Austin American-Statesman.

After taking just 10 percent of the vote and finishing a distant fifth in Iowa yesterday, Perry told supporters that he would return to Texas to reassess whether there was “a path forward.”

Some of his campaign advisers made clear that they wanted him to drop out last night and, after his speech, thought that his reassessment language was merely a prelude to a formal withdrawal.

“It seemed like everything was going to wind down and life was gonna be good, and now there’s an explosion and I don’t know what’s going on,” said one of the strategists, who added that some of Perry’s Texas backers were urging him to go forward.

Another adviser confirmed that the decision had been closely held, and that members of the team were caught by surprise.

As for Perry’s announcement via Twitter, one strategist said: “Welcome to Campaign 2012.”